The Addison Lee taxi company is to take its battle to use London's bus lanes to a higher court after it lost a judicial review of a ban on the tactic.

The taxi firm, headed by millionaire Conservative party donor John Griffin, was hoping to overturn an April ruling in the high court that prevented its drivers from using bus lanes restricted to London buses and licensed black taxis.

At the conclusion of a judicial review on Wednesday, Mr Justice Burton rejected Addison Lee's case and said the reason behind Transport for London policy restricting the use of the lanes was "obvious and compelling".

"There is to my mind a clear distinction between the need of black cabs (and their passengers and the public) for them to be in the bus lanes, by way of visibility and availability of, and access to, black cabs for those hailing a cruising taxi," he said. "I consider it makes entire good sense for black cabs to be travelling in bus lanes. Minicabs just do not have the need to use the bus lane, and black cabs do."

Addison Lee had argued the ban on its drivers using the bus lanes was a restriction under European Law of the right to provide services and that it distorts competition. Transport for London (Tfl), which had sought and won the original court injunction against the campaign of bus lane disobedience ordered by Griffin in April, said it was "pleased that the court has recognised the important distinction between taxis and minicabs".

"Londoners will doubtless also be pleased to know that the court has ordered Addison Lee to meet TfL's costs in defending this claim," said Leon Daniels, TfL's managing director of surface transport.

The ruling is the latest stage in a protracted battle by Griffin for access to the lanes, which included him lobbying former transport minister Philip Hammond.

In April Griffin ordered his 4,000 drivers to defy the law banning them from using the bus lanes. He told them: "Addison Lee believes that we cannot allow our customers to continue to be victims of this unfair and discriminatory treatment" and claimed the rules meant he was losing millions of pounds a year in business from corporate clients who would otherwise sign up to use his service.

Griffin promised to pay the drivers' fines, and dozens received penalty charge notices but the disobedience did not spread to the "thousands" that Addison Lee predicted.

A week later Mr Justice Eder granted an injunction to prevent the firm instructing its drivers to use bus lanes. Following an application by TfL, he also instructed the private hire company not to repeat an offer to pay its drivers' fines or other penalties.

A day later it emerged that the main government contract with Addison Lee, held by the Department for Work and Pensions, would not be renewed.

"We are extremely disappointed with today's judgment," said Griffin. "The current bus lane legislation is anti-competitive and unfairly discriminates against millions of Londoners who use private hire vehicles every day. There is no reason for black taxis to have a monopoly on bus lanes – we should either all be in or all be out. We still believe that the current legislation is a breach of the EU and UK law. You can't discriminate between two types of taxis and we will continue to fight this injustice."

A spokesman for the firm said Addison Lee would be seeking leave to appeal to the court of appeal and would be requesting an early reference to the court of justice of the European Union (CJEU) which interprets EU law to make sure it is applied in the same way in all EU countries.